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B is for BDMs, Blogs and Beyond the Internet

Births, Deaths and Marriages or BDMs are also known in other countries as BMDs which actually makes more sense, after all if we marry it’s unlikely to come after we die, rather beforehand.

I mentioned in the last post that the best genealogy explores backwards from ourselves, working through the generations. This is where we focus on those BMD data to unearth details of parents etc. How we do that will be revealed as we move from A to Z.

B is for BLOGS

Share your discoveries on your blog.

I like to call family history blogs “writing your family story online”. Since all of us participating in the A to Z challenge are bloggers I’m probably preaching to the converted on the value of blogs generally.

What do family history or genealogy blogs offer us? One view is that they are great “cousin bait” because people searching for the same ancestors as us will find our blog when they search the internet especially if we’ve used good tags and categories. Another view, is that it’s a great way to tell your family’s story in bite-sized chunks which is less intimidating and less expensive than a published book. A third opportunity is to use your blog as a way to leave an historic memoir of your life for future generations – what school was like, how you celebrated Christmas and other festivals etc.

In my own family research, and in my wider research of other families of emigrants, I’ve often been surprised by the contacts I’ve made through my blog. There’s also a great umbrella group, called Geneabloggers and established by genea-guru Thomas MacEntee. The level of personal support and encouragement from peers in this group is quite astounding and it’s funny how when we meet, it’s as if we’ve known each other for ages.

Beyond the Internet

B is for Beyond the Internet

I’m also obsessive about the research we can do offline or “beyond the internet”. A few years ago I wrote a weekly post about these search options, some of which have now been digitised. You can find a list of the topics here. During this journey I’ll be encouraging you to move offline and explore other sources.

31 thoughts on “B is for BDMs, Blogs and Beyond the Internet”

Definitely blogging helps write the family history in bite sized chunks 🙂 I also find blogging a great discipline as I revisit the sources when writing and invariably discover some refinement in my understanding of my family history.

I agree there is a lot of material not on line but even carefully reviewing what you find on line can bring great benefits – ie look beyond the index to the actual image of the record and of course think about its context.

It amuses me to go online to learn how to go offline.
When I started my blog, I didn’t think of it as writing the family history in chunks, but the various stories have come in handy as I’ve compiled some tabletop books about my family.
~Visiting from AtoZ
Wendy at Jollett Etc.

I have found quite a few cousins through my blog. I admit that I don’t do much offline research these days. At one point I did days and weeks at a library in Indianapolis, IN. I looked at newspapers and city directories on the microfilm machine. Now most of those are online. Nothing can replace actually going to the old home places and walking through the cemeteries and seeing the places that are still standing.

Quite agree Kristin…the joy of being there. It’s ironic that when I lived near our archives I was busy with work and family, and since then have had to make specific journeys so I know exactly what you mean.

So true! I have connected with cousins on two lines of my family through blogging, and the cousins on my Irish line recently formed a research team to pool our efforts. The family history search is so much more rewarding when it is shared! Thanks for dropping by my blog, Pauleen. I’ll be checking back here during the A to Z Challenge.

Thank you for mentioning Beyond the Internet. As an archivist (and also a genealogist, although I haven’t had time to do much for a few years) it is so frustrating when people assume it is all online and ignore all our Wonderful Stuff!

No, I knew what I was in for having done it before and vacillated over it before deciding to go ahead. One really needs to have pre-pared the posts to make it possible to do lots of visiting. Next task is the Irish.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog. I am pleased when readers enjoy something I've shared, and love hearing your comments.

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